MARCH 25, 1996

F1 to have a test-ban?

THE Formula 1 teams have recently been discussing introducing a testing ban for one month after the season ends in October. The smaller teams argue that testing is too expensive and want to limit the amount of work which can be done by the larger teams. Curiously enough, except for Ferrari, most of the larger teams are not against the idea.

The idea is being touted around by Benetton boss Flavio Briatore but was not accepted during the meeting of team bosses in Melbourne and is unlikely to resurface as the FOCA teams will be very unlikely to agree and thus will be unable to vote on any such proposal should it come at the next F1 Commission meeting. Such a rule would be extremely difficult to police as the bigger teams often go to great lengths to ensure that no-one knows where they are testing. There are also a number of private tracks around Europe where testing could be done without anyone knowing.

Many of the top teams have already made bookings for the autumn, with McLaren, for example, already scheduling tests in Spain and Portugal in the month after Suzuka.